Location, quality and choice of hospital
The University of York Centre for Health Economics has published Location, quality and choice of hospital: evidence from England 2002/3 – 2012/13 (Research paper 123).  This paper investigates: how patient choice of hospital for elective hip replacement is influenced by distance, quality and waiting times; differences in choices between patients in urban and rural locations; the relationship between the responsiveness of a hospital’s demand with respect to quality and the number of rivals it has, and how these changed after relaxation of constraints on hospital choice in England in 2006.

NHS health check evaluation study
The first major evaluation of the NHS Health Check in England has been published in BMJ Open. The NHS Health Check in England: an evaluation of the first 4 years found the Health Check is effectively identifying and supporting people at risk of developing cardiovascular disease. In addition, a conservative estimate based solely on medical treatment received by those at highest risk suggests that over the first five years of the programme, at least 2,500 people would have avoided a heart attack or stroke.

Longitudinal case studies of CCGs in England
BMJ Open has published Complexity in the new NHS: longitudinal case studies of CCGs in England. This study provides evidence about how clinical commissioning groups have decided to structure themselves to fulfil their obligations. This is one of the first longitudinal approaches in studying CCG development. So far data has been collected over a 3–4-year period, with further data collection ongoing at present.

NICE guidance
NICE has published new guidance Tuberculosis NG33.  This guideline covers preventing, identifying and managing latent and active tuberculosis (TB) in children, young people and adults. It aims to improve ways of finding people who have TB in the community and recommends that everyone under 65 with latent TB should be treated. It describes how TB services should be organised, including the role of the TB control board.

NICE Quality Standards
NICE has issued two quality standards:

• Preventing unintentional injury in under 15s (QS107) – covers preventing unintentional injury in children and young people under 15. The term ‘unintentional injury’ is used rather than ‘accidents’ to recognise that injuries are the result of events that can be prevented.
• Multiple sclerosis (QS108) – covers the diagnosis and management of multiple sclerosis (MS) in adults (18 years and over).
  

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NICE surveillance report
Falls: assessment and prevention of falls in older people. – surveillance decision: the guideline will not be updated at this time

Better care fund
The Department of Health has published 2016/17 Better Care Fund: Policy Framework. This document sets out the agreed way in which the Better Care Fund will be implemented in financial year 2016 to 2017. It covers such issues as: the legal and financial basis of the fund; conditions of access to the fund; national performance metrics; and the assurance and approval process. The document should be read alongside the NHS Mandate.

Exploring how frontline staff uses patient experience data for service improvement
University of Oxford and Picker Institute Europe have announced that they have been awarded a research grant by the National Institute for Health Research to investigate how NHS frontline teams use different types of patient experience data for improvement. The project, funded as part of the Health Services and Delivery Research (HS&DR) Programme, aims to build an understanding of which types of data or quality improvement approaches are more or less likely to be useful with frontline teams in making health care more person-centred.

Eyes on evidence
The latest edition of Eyes on Evidence (January 2016) includes the following items:

• Oxygen therapy for acute ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction
• Managing chronic rhinosinusitis in adults
• Thyroid function testing in primary care
• Occupational therapy for older people with stroke-related disabilities who live in care homes
• Long-term mental health effects of bullying during adolescence
• Evidence summaries from NICE’s Medicines and Prescribing Programme:
  • Diabetes mellitus type 1 and type 2: insulin glargine biosimilar (Abasaglar)
  • Type 2 diabetes mellitus in adults: high-strength insulin glargine 300 units/ml (Toujeo)